1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, which uses a thermoelectric device rather than a refrigerant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional air conditioning systems use a refrigerant in a cooling system to cool the air as it passes therethrough. More specifically, the system cools air by rotating a compressor to conduct compression, liquefaction, and evaporation on the refrigerant and heats the air by operating a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater. However, the use of refrigerant has added to the effects on global warming. Air conditioning systems (including a hot gas system) using the refrigerant require mechanical power, convert electrical energy into mechanical energy, and perform heating and cooling. Thus, mechanical loss as well as quality issues caused by mechanical parts and leakage of the refrigerant are in need of improvement.
An air-conditioning apparatus using thermoelectric devices in related art have been proposed to minimize a temperature difference between opposite surfaces of the thermoelectric device to improve efficiency through the use of a thermoelectric device. However, even on the basis of this technology, an air-conditioning system using cooling water and the thermoelectric device is still only at its rudimentary level. As such, there is a problem associated with the overall heat control of a vehicle, a new system capable of replacing both an existing air-conditioning system and an existing heat-radiating system has yet to be proposed.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.